**The Maintenance Process on a Miata**

We're almost there, folks! The last thing we have to do before this Miata is up to snuff is install some new filters. We're gonna do an air filter and a fuel filter.

The air filter lets air through, but it traps all the dirt and debris and all the nasty stuff that you don't want your engine to suck up. And just like all filters, at a certain point, it can't do its job very well anymore, because it's full of junk.

To get to the air filter, we're gonna have to disconnect our mass airflow sensor, which didn't come off so easy. I broke the clip, and now we've got four screws left to take off the top of the intake bars. This doesn't look too bad so far.

Here's an air filter, this is a paper filter, there are also cotton filters, and there are cool foam ones, but they all do the same job - trapping junk. And honestly, this one looks pretty good, but again, I've got a new one anyway, because we're zeroing this puppy out.

Let's drop the filter in, put the lid back on, and screw it back in, and you're done there. There's no satisfying click, though - that's my fault, okay!

So now we're under the car, getting ready to replace the fuel filter. Over time, it filters out a bunch of gunk, and it can get blocked up, which can cause poor idle, poor fuel economy, and just poor performance overall.

To stop any potential loss of fuel pressure in the system, I'm gonna pinch this line right here. Sometimes your hold hoses will get really stuck on stuff, so you gotta kind of loosen them up. There you go!

We got the old one out, time to put the new one in. This thing's got a lot of love today - let's bring it back down and see how she's doing! Now, let's torque those wheels. The torque spec for the wheels seems to be 65 to 85 foot pounds, which is a pretty wide spread.

I'm gonna go with 75 foot pounds, and let's see if the wheels come off. And that's it - we're done with maintenance on our Miata! Let's take her for a drive and make sure everything feels good.

The car feels great, what do you know? It honestly feels a lot like it did at the beginning of this, but now I feel a lot better knowing that the car has fresh fluids, fresh filters, fresh belts, and fresh spark plugs. So the car is at a great baseline now to start modifying it.

Follow us on Instagram - @ZachJobe, @Donutmedia, and our new YouTube channel for our podcast, Donut Podcasts. And thank you guys so much for watching! I hope you're having fun, we're having a blast making this show. See you next week!

**The Next Step: Replacing Tires**

We'll put some new sticky ones on it, talk about tires, and how to get the fitment right. You guys are never gonna guess what wheels we bought - so check us out next week!

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Maintenance, it'sunexciting, it's messy,it can be complicated and it takes time.There are a bunch of reasonsto avoid keeping up withyour car's maintenancebut if you don't, it's probablygonna bite you in the ass.So today I'm gonna walk you throughthe nine parts of a carthat commonly requiremaintenance or attention.For each I'll show you what to look for,why we're looking at it and how to fix it.I'm Zach and this is Money Pit.(lightning blasting)(bouncy upbeat music)So the most common and consistentmaintenance item is oil.The engine oil is thelifeblood of your engineand your car requires transfusionsof new blood every so often.Any time you get metal on metal contactin your engine,the components that are touchingare gonna wear very fast.So all your moving partsneed to be separatedby a thin film of oil at all timesto keep your engine in good shape.You know how much friction there is there?Now at 7000 RPM, that's gonnatoast itself pretty quickbut let's put a little oil on it.(oil squishing)Oh, no noise at all'cause it's riding on a thin film of oil.So that's what you want.Engine oil is comprised ofpretty much two main components,a base oil and an additive package.Base oil is a productcreated by refiningcrude oil from the groundwhen you're talking about conventional oilor the base oil is a synthesized polymerwhen you're talking abouta full synthetic oil.A combination of both types of base oilwould make for semi syntheticor a synthetic blend,which has a quality andprice somewhere in betweenconventional and full synthetic.In either case, thebase oil comprises mostof what's ultimately in the bottle,the rest is called theadditive pack or package,which contains various additiveswhich make it possible for oil to doits super difficult ass job.The oil needs to be thin enoughto be able to be quicklypumped throughout the engineon a cold morning startup.But, as the oil heats up tothe operating temperatureof your engine, it also thins out,as most fluids do.That does sound like a pretty hard job,so how on earth does itkeep from becoming too thinat operating temperature?Enter multi-grade engine oil,also knowing asmulti-viscosity engine oil.Viscosity is just the measurementof a fluid's internal frictionor its resistance to flow.Low viscosity is like water,and high viscosity is like honey.Low viscosity, low number,low resistance to flow.High viscosity, high numberand a high resistance to flow.And whenever you hearanyone talking about weight,when they're talking about motor oil,they're talking about viscosity.So anyway, oh, (bleep).Oh my god.Oh, no, this has to go.(laughing)So anyway, multi-viscosity oil,this is actually prettymuch every oil you know.Let's take 10W-30 for example,10W-30, we've got aviscosity or weight ratinghere of 10, with a W, then a dash,and then a viscosity rating of 30.So let's split thing in half at the dash.These numbers representthe viscosity ratingof the oil at two different temperatures.The W attached to that first number,that stands for winter, not weight,and it represents winter temperatures,or specifically, 0 degree Fahrenheit.So, when cold, this oilflows like a 10 weight oilwhich is good, that's a pretty low number,which means it's probably thin enoughto get pumped around on a cold startand protect the goods.But then the secondnumber is a measurementof the viscosity of the oilat operating temperature,or, 212 degrees Fahrenheit.At 212 degrees, the viscosity of this oilis now a 30 weight, it'sstill thinner than it wasbecause now it's hot, it's at 212 degrees,but, it's not as thin as astraight, 10 weight oil would beat 212.So for the multi-viscosity trick,the additive pack has what'scalled viscosity improversor modifiers, which expandin size with temperatureand effectively increase viscosity.There are also things calleddispersants and detergentswhich help oil do two ofits other biggest jobs.Dispersants help catch andsuspend combustion by productslike soot and carbon.And detergents help clean depositsand they help neutralize acidswhich are created by combustion.And at some point, the oil in your enginehas trapped all the soot it can holdand it's neutralized all the acid it can.So it's reasons like these thatyou need to change your oil.You've probably heard every3000 miles on the old odometeror every three months,but honestly, it varies quite a bit.Really you should be ableto go 5000 miles nowadayswith no problems.Typically speaking, asynthetic oil will give youthe longest drain interval possiblewhen compared to a semi-syntheticor conventional oil.Generally it's best to stickwith your manufacturer's recommendation.You gotta make sure thatthe oil you're usingmeets the certificationsthat your engine requires.So anyways, let's change this fricken oil.First you're gonna wanna make sureyou have the car on anice flat level ground.Then you need to make sureit's in park or in gearand the e-brake is pulled.Then you gotta chock the wheel, like that.Then once you got the wheel chock,you need to find thelift points on your car.There's always gonna be twoon either side of the car.And on the Miata, youcan tell where they areby these little indents,but that's where I wantour jack stand to go,so I'm actually gonna liftfrom the front sub-framewhich will pick up the fronttwo tires at the same time.- What do you call that move?- That's the old scissor kick, bye master.And then I'm gonna get the jack standsunder the reinforcedbit on the pinch weldson either side and slowlylower the car onto the stands.Now we need to lift the rear,I'm gonna do basically there same thing,we're gonna use the same side lift point,just the rear one,and I'm gonna lift thecar from the differential.Now, that it's up in theair, give it a little shake,to make sure it doesn'tfall off your jack standsand if it doesn't, you did it.Good job.So for our sweet little Miata here,we're gonna use a full synthetic.We're gonna use a Mobil 1 10W-30,and we're gonna operate on roughlya 5000 mile oil changeinterval, but realistically,we're gonna be taking thisthing apart so many damn times,I don't know if we'llever actually get there.(upbeat music)First, pop off your oil fill cap.Get underneath the car, drain the old oil.And see how little of a mess you can make,it's always fun.All right, the oil's all drained,time to put the drain plug back in,I've got my torque wrench,the torque spec is 22 to 30 foot points,I'm gonna go with 30 foot pounds,try to make sure it doesn't leak.Now that the drain plug's back in,I'm gonna yank off the old oil filter,which is right up there andit'll drain into the pan.It's always a good ideato lube up the new gasketon your new filter.You can use the old engine oil for that,or you can you go with the new stuff.Just get it wet, it just helps it seal.Just spin it on until it gets snugand then go maybe anotherhalf turn or a turn,that's really all it takes.So the oil capacity onthe Miata is four quarts,so I've got four quarts here,and we're gonna dump them all in.All right, so now we'regonna start the car,so we can check the oil level,and the point of that is just to fill upthat dry filter with oil sowe get an accurate readingon the level of the oil.Then check your oil leveland make sure you don't have any leaks.So we changed our oil whichleaves us with this vatof used, dirty, gross, oil.I like to have one of these on hand,take it to your neareststore and drop it off,it's free.All right, that's an oil change,it was pretty easy.But what about those other oils?Other oils?What?Yes, we do need to change the gear oiland our diff oil, so let's do it.(upbeat music)Now there's no combustiongoing on in the trans or diffsso the fluid doesn't need getas dirty as your engine oil.And that's part of thereason you can these fluidsso much longer thanyou can run engine oil.Now I've got these two fluids,this one's for the transmission,and this one's for the diff.They're both 75W-90, butthey are not the same.The fluid for the transmission,this is a GL4 spec fluid,and the diff fluid here,is a GL5 spec.Now what does this mean?In this case, it's mostlyabout the differencein extreme pressure, or EP additive.It adheres to all your metal partsand basically acts likea last line of defenseagainst metal on metal wear.So the difference between these two fluidsis the level of that EP additive.For our differential,where forces areextraordinarily high and brutal,we're gonna use thisGL5, this Mobil 1 75W-90.We need to be a little bitmore delicate in our gearbox,and the amount of EPadditive in the GL5 fluidis too aggressive forthe synchronizer ringsin the Miata's transmission,so this GL4 spec fluid iswhat's going in the trans.Now that we've got all thejibber jabber out of the way,let's talk about actuallychanging the transmission fluid.Before you open up the drain plug,which obviously you haveto do to drain the fluid,you need to open up the fill plug,to make sure that you'regonna be able to put new fluidback in it once youdrain out the old fluid.Then you remove the drain plug,you drain all the old juice out,put drain plug back in, tighten it up,and then you'll just fill with new fluiduntil it comes out the fill hole.To get the fluid into the transmission,I've got this, it's alittle fluid transfer pump.That just goes down in there,you just squirt it likea little soap dispenserand it puts the fluid where you want it.She's full, there you go.See how it's running out ofthe filter plug like that?That's how you know when its filled up.So we're ready to putour fill plug back in.The transmission is done,now we need to do the diff.We're gonna pop off the fillplug to make sure it comes off,then we'll drain it.And again, as we're draining our fluid,we're looking at it andmaking sure it looks good,and it does, there's no dirtor foreign debris in there.So that's a good sign.Put the drain plug backin, fill it up with fluid.So same thing with the transmission,we're just gonna pour thefluid into the fill holeuntil it spills out,then we know its full.Where's my plug?Oh no.You gotta keep track of your plugs.Hey, Yahtzee.For the drain plug, the specis 29 to 40 foot pounds,so if you're new todoing this kind of stuff,you should absolutely use a torque wrench,and do it to spec, so you get to learn.And that's how you change your diff fluid.Pretty easy, right?Let's do some brakes.(upbeat music)Brake fluid is a type of hydraulic fluidthat your brake system usesin order for your car to stopwhen you want it to.When you step on your brakes,the fluid causes a piston orpistons in your brake caliperto push against your brake pads,the pads then clamp against the rotorsand those are attached to your wheels.Now brake fluid,like all the other fluidwe've talked about before,needs to be changed.It absorbs water,it's what's called a hygroscopic fluid.Now if you're thinking,well, water is fluid,that's incompressible,so why would it matterif water gets into the system?Well, so as you use your brakes,you create a lot of heat,and your fluid gets hot,and it gets too hot, it'llcause that unwanted waterin the brake fluid to boil,because water has amuch lower boiling pointthan any brake fluid.And when you boil water, it becomes a gas,and gas is very compressible.So, when that happens, you losethe function of your brakespretty much completely,which is also known asbeing completely (beep).So it's important to checkwith your car's manualto see which fluid your system takes.So I wanna make sure we usethe best fluid possible nowso we don't have to dealwith it in the future.So that's why we're using Motul's RBF600,it's got a dry boiling pointof 594 degrees fahrenheit,which is full, 148degrees more braking tempthan you get with the standard .4 stuff.Break bleeding the name of process,which you purge air bubblesfrom the brake lines.When the brake fluid heatsup past the boiling pointof that water, it createssteam in the lines,the steam creates airpockets in the brake linesand then that reduces theamount of hydraulic pressurewhen you hit the brake pedals.So a common symptom ofair in your brake linesis a soft or spongy pedal.The only way to get that air outis to bleed the fluid and air bubbles out.So Eddie's gonna get in the carand he's gonna pump up the brake pedalto get some pressure in the system.Then, he's gonna hold the pedal downto keep all that pressureon the fluid, in the system.Then I'll crack open the bleeder valveat each, individual, brakeand fluid, and, or, air,will come out out of the bleederas Eddie's foot sinks to the floor.Then I'll close the bleederand Eddie can pump the pedal up again,and then we'll repeat that cycleuntil we've flushed out all the old fluid.So as we do this, we have to make sureto keep filling the brakereservoir with new fluidsso you don't suck airin from the reservoir.This is where communicationwith your homies is key.Now Eddie, pump it up.(tranquil music)So we got this corner done,we gotta do it on three other corners,so let's get at it.Pump it.Okay, how does the pedal feel?- Feels good.- Well that's a brake bleed my boy.So as we know, car enginescreate a lot of heat,and to keep things from melting down,your engine has coolant coursing throughit's aluminum, and, or, steel veins.Engine coolant is pumpedthrough the enginewhere it absorbs heat from the blockand then the fluid getstransferred to the radiator,here at the front.Air flows through the radiator,across the veins, andpulls heat out the coolant,and then the coolantgoes back to the blockand then starts theprocess all over again.So, what exactly is engine coolant?Well, it is a mixtureof water and antifreeze.You know what water is, I hope,and antifreeze is either ethylene glycolor propylene glycol, dependingon what formula you buy.Those chemicals, when mixed with water,do exactly what the name suggests,they prevent freezing.Over time, the coolant in your enginecan become slightly acidic,and that slightly acidicsolution in your enginecauses corrosion, which is bad.Beyond that, your coolantcan lose its abilityto keep from freezingwhen it gets really cold,and you can't really telljust by looking at it.So you need one of these,this is called a hydrometer,basically you just suckssome coolant up into it,and it floats to this little float,and points at a numberhere and tells you roughly,what temperature yourantifreeze is good to.Just under negative 34 fahrenheit,so that's pretty good.So our coolant's pretty cool,let's take a look at our power steering.So power steering fluid,much like brake fluid,is a type of hydraulic fluid,and in this case, it'sused to transmit powerto your steering system.So the power steering pumppulls fluid from our reservoir right here,pumps it, puts some pressure on it,and forces it into your steering rack,which is what gives you the power.So power steering fluid, justlike all our other fluids,over time, gets dirty,and needs to be replaced.But you also might notice,if you're having power steering issues,like if there's a squeal whenyou try to turn the wheel,or it's really hard to turnthe wheel at slow speeds,or it's jerky and not consistent,all of those can besigns of a failing pump,or low on fluid, or evenpotentially just a loose beltthat isn't driving yourpower steering pump.So, dip stick, it's full of fluid,and the fluid looks okay,it looks nice and clear,there's not any chunks of junk in it.The power steer system inthe Miata seems to be fine,so I'm really not gonnado much to do it today,I'm gonna turkey basterout some of the old fluid,fill up with new, fresh, Mobil 1 ATF,check our level, gottause our little dipstick,and try to land somewhere onthat little middle part there.All right, so power steeringfluid is at the right level,got some fresh juice in there,which is good, and I'll dothat the next couple of timesI work on the car,and then it'll just be kindof a nice easy, background wayto cycle some new powersteering fluid in there.Let's do some spark plugs.(upbeat music)Spark plugs are responsiblefor creating the sparkthat ignites the air and fuel mixturethat's in your engine.So this is your positive terminal,which you'll connect your coilpack or your spark plug wireto the top there.And then electricity travelsthrough the center electrode,all the way to the tipwhere it gets to the gap,and with enough voltage,the electricity will jumpthis little gap, and that's your spark.So that's how it does thesparky part of its job,but spark plugs have another job,they need to dissipate thecorrect amount of heat.The heat range rating of a spark plugis the measurement of how much heatthe plug can transfer fromthe tip of the spark plug,to the cylinder head and ultimately,to the cooling system of your engine.So you need to use a plug that operatesin its most efficient temperature range.As you put miles on your plugs,they are subjected to apretty insane environment,and as the miles rack up,the tip of your electrodewill wear away untilit's no longer effectiveat creating a spark.Now depending on the durabilityof the materials usedin the plugs you choose,will have a lot to dowith how long they last.For example, a cooper plugis gonna wear the quickestand have the shortest lifespan at 10 to 30 000 milesdepending on how you drive,they're also the cheapest.Plugs with iridium or platinum tipsare much more durable and they can lastup to 100 000 miles, butthey are more expensive.So you can tell if you needto change your spark plugs,if they start misfiring,which feels a lot likewalking up some stairsand trying to take thatlast step that isn't there.Let's take a look at our plugsand see how things aregoing inside the engine.All right, so we'regetting ready to pull outour spark plugs, I've got my handy, dandy,spark plug socket here,it's a 5/8 in size because spark plugsoften still a standard size.It's got a magnet in the tip,which makes it easy for pulling them outand putting them back in.All right, so here's our first plug,no oil on the threads, so no leaks.We've got a nice,light grayish, tannish,looking strap there.Our electrode's nice and square still,it doesn't look very eroded,there's no deposits,these look pretty good,well at least the first one does,let's not get ahead of ourselves.Plug number two, looks equally good.Now number four, and this is the cylinderthat tends to get hot, isn't it Eddie?- Yeah it is.- Threads are clean, tip looks good,pretty dry, electrode looks good.Our plugs look fine but wealready have a new set of plugsso we're gonna install them anyway.It's always a good idea tocheck the gap of your plugseven if there pre-gapped.To do that we've got alittle gapper tool here.All you're doing is measuring the air gapbetween the tip of theelectrode and the ground strapon the spark plug.So we're gonna check and make surethat all four plugs are gapped the same,and then we'll install them.This one's a little bit tighter at .04,so I'll show you how toopen up the ground strap,it's really easy.So you just get it in there like that,give it a little push,there we go perfect.So I'll put a littlebit of dielectric greaseon the porcelain here and that will helpthe spark plug boot seal to the spark plugand help prevent misfires.We're gonna do 22 footpounds on the spark plugs.And that's it baby, new spark plugs.How exciting.(upbeat music)You know what it is,we're about to take off that intake son,so we get to them belts.All right, so your engine uses a beltor a couple of belts to operatevarious different systemsattached to the engine.Like your water pump,your power steering pump,your alternator, they'reall driven by the crank,so if the car's running,the crank's spinningand it's spinning youraccessory pumps and components.They're made out ofrubber just like tires,so over time, with a lot of use,they'll wear down andthey lose their abilityto do their job well.They look okay, they're not cracked,they don't look too worn,but we're still gonna sticksome new ones on there.So in order to install some new belts,all you need to do isloosen your tensioneror tensioners, which changesthe tension on the belt.So we loosened the boltson the power steering pump,and we loosened the tensioner,that allows the power steering pump itselfto pivot down, which loosens the belt,so now we've got a really loose belt,and I'm gonna take it off.There's belt number one.Let's get the second one off.Okay, so this one a littletougher to get to it looks like.Okay, now you can seethe alternator moving,so that's loose,we should be able to get the belt off now.So we've got these grooves hereor the teeth of the belt, there'sno cracking which is good,this doesn't look exceptionally worn,you wanna look at the sides too,see if there's any meltinggoing on or anything like that.It looks okay, butagain, these are so cheapthat I'm replacing it,'cause I wanna know it's okay.Just up under the water pump,down onto the crankshaft,then we just gotta getit on to the alternator,which has got a tensioner.All right, so the first belt is on,we've got it tensioned,it's pretty tight, justthe way we want it,and we're gonna tighten up our alternator,and then we'll put on our second belt.Okay, now that belt's on.We need to get a little tension on her.That's about good, that'sthe tension we want.The spec is 11 and a half milometers,which is close to half an inch.And I'd say that's justunder half an inch of playup and down, so that's great,we'll tighten up our tensionerand then our belts are done.It's time for our filters after that.(upbeat music)All right folks, I knowwe've been at it for a while,but we're almost there, thelast thing we have to dobefore this Miata is up to snuff,is install some new filters.We're gonna do an airfilter and a fuel filter.The air filter lets air through,but it traps all the dirt anddebris and all the nasty stuffthat you don't wantyour engine to suck up.And just like all filters,at a certain point, it can'tdo its job very well anymore,because it's full of junk.All right, to get to the air filter,its gonna be really easy,especially 'case we already haveour front part of the intake off,so now I'm just gonnadisconnect our mass airflow,awww.- Did you break it?- The clip broke.Well, now I just have four screws left,10 milometers or Philips, andthen the top of intake barscome off.Hey, doesn't look too bad so far.So, here's an air filter,this is a paper filter,there are also cotton filters,and there are cool foam ones,but they all do the same jobwhich is trapping junk,and honestly, so far, thisone looks pretty good,but again, I've got a new anyway,because we're zeroing this puppy out.Looks like the filterthat was already in there,just a little newer.Drop the filter in, put the lid back on,screws back in, and you're done.There's no satisfying click there anymore.- Who's fault is that?- Dude, it's mine okay.(imitates car engine)So the last step here isto put this intake tubeback in place, just the way it came off,should be pretty easy,and then we're done up here.All right, now we'redown here under the cargetting ready to replace the fuel filter.Over time, it filters out a bunch of gunk,and it can get blocked up,which can cause pooridle, poor fuel economy,and just poor performance overall.So we're gonna spill alittle bit of fuel here,but the car hasn't beenon since yesterday,so we shouldn't really havemuch fuel pressure in the system,but if you do, the best thing you can dois take out your fuel pump fuse,and then start the carand it'll run until it runs out of fuel,and that'll depressurize your fuel systemso you can work on it.All right, so here's our old fuel filter,now I'm gonna pinch this line right hereto try to stop from losingas much fuel as possible,and then we'll pop it off.Take out the first line,loosen up the hose,might as well pinch offthe upper line as well,that should do.Sometimes your hold hoseswill get really stuck onstuff, so you gotta kind of,loosen them up, there you go.(relaxing music)We got the old one out,time to put the new one in.(relaxing music)Brand new fuel filter.Dang, this thing got a lot of love today.Let's bring this thing down.She's back.Now let's torque them wheels.All right, so the torquespec for the wheelsseems to be 65 to 85 foot pounds,which is a pretty wide spread,I'm gonna go with 75 foot pounds,and let's see if the wheels come off.And that's it, that'smaintenance on a Miata,let's take it for a driveand make sure everything feels good.(smooth music)The car feels great, what do you know,it honestly feels a lot like it didat the beginning of this, butnow know I feel a lot better,knowing that the car has fresh fluids,fresh filters, fresh belts,and fresh spark plugs,so the car is at a great baseline nowto start modifying it,so check back next weekwhen we replace those worn out tires,we'll put some new sticky ones on it,we'll talk about tires,we'll take about wheels,how to gt your fitment right,and you guys are never gonna guess,what wheels we bought.So check us next week for that.In the meantime, follow meon Instagram, @ZachJobe,follow Donut, @Donutmedia,follow our new YouTubechannel for our podcast,Donut Podcasts, and thank youguys so much for watching,I hope you're havingfun, we're having a blastmaking this show.See you next week.